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Alan Turing's Legacy and Computer Science at Princeton

Considered the father of computer science, Alan Turing earned his Ph.D. in mathematics from Princeton in 1938. In this video, Andrew Appel, chair of the department of computer science, discusses Alan Turing's legacy.

Princeton hosted a conference May 10-12 in honor of the centennial of Turing's birth. Featured speakers include Google executive Eric Schmidt '76, internet pioneer Robert Kahn *64, James D. Murray on mathematical biology, Barbara Liskov of MIT on in modern programming languages, Ronald Rivest of MIT on cryptography, Leslie G. Valiant of Harvard on computing as a natural science, Andrew Chi-Chih Yao of Tsinghua University on quantum computing, and Gödel Prize winner Avi Wigderson *83 of the Institute for Advanced Study.

Speakers discussed Turing’s legacy as well as the future of computing.

Appel '81 is the editor of a new edition of Turing's Princeton Ph.D. thesis, just issued by Princeton University Press.

Video by Zach Donnell for the Princeton University School of Engineering and Applied Sciences Office of Communication.